All week, the Michigan men’s basketball team has prepared itself in hopes of nabbing a top-10 win over in-state rival Michigan State rival Michigan State on Saturday. But the Wolverines haven’t had the luxury of being at full strength.
During Tuesday’s trip to Rutgers, Michigan was without Brandon Johns Jr., Terrance Williams, Frankie Collins and Jaron Faulds (medical) and Zeb Jackson (personal). As a result, Juwan Howard’s team suffered its first-ever loss to the Scarlet Knights, who had previously beaten every Big Ten team besides the Wolverines.
Two of Michigan’s four ill players have cleared COVID-19 protocols since returning from Piscataway, according to a program spokesperson. The other two are currently awaiting test results ahead of Saturday’s tip-off, though the spokesperson did not specify which players. Two U-M staffers (medical) will miss Saturday’s game as well.
As a result, the team has lacked bodies at practice.
“We haven’t been good to go 100 percent,” Howard said Friday. “We’ve just been figuring out ways to navigate through what we’ve been dealt with, with COVID and COVID protocols. We’re trying to stay afloat and stay ready. Each day by day, we’ll continue working to try to get to that point. But I’ll be honest with you, it’s frustrating. It’s frustrating for us all in the sports world and non-sports world.”
For the Wolverines, a win on Saturday could be an inflection point in what’s been a disappointing season to date. Michigan, which started the season as a consensus top-10 team, is just one game above .500 through 13 contests, including a 1-2 Big Ten record. A win over the 10th-ranked Spartans, who will enter Crisler Center with an eight-game winning streak and 4-0 conference record, would inspire much-needed confidence.
Even while shorthanded, the Wolverines have done their best to ready themselves for Michigan State. In Howard’s eyes, that’s a tribute to the program’s mindset.
“I really commend and respect, and I always have been a big fan of how our guys have been able to deal with adversity, and while (doing) that, not making excuses for it,” Howard said. “We have a type of mentality in our group where we roll up our sleeves and embrace the suck. And so, not making excuses, which we never will, and we’re a non-excuse-based type of group. What we have, who’s available to play, we trust that each and every guy is going to play hard, play together, play smart and play to win.”
Under the Big Ten’s new forfeiture policy, games will be rescheduled if a team doesn’t have at least one coach and seven healthy scholarship players available. Previously, those contests were set to become forfeits. Now, they will be either rescheduled or considered a no-contest if an alternative date isn’t possible, provided the affected team is able to show why it could not meet the conference’s safety threshold.
During Tuesday’s loss to the Scarlet Knights, the Wolverines were approaching that threshold. Asked about the forfeiture policy on Friday, Howard indicated Michigan will once again be ready to play Saturday.
“With seven players (and) one coach that is healthy, it’s considered you have to play,” Howard said. “Hey, we meet the criteria. We met the criteria on Tuesday versus Rutgers. Hopefully, we haven’t gotten to tomorrow yet, but I pray to God we have healthy bodies to compete tomorrow.
Before finishing his answer, the Wolverines’ third-year head coach knocked on wood.
“Including myself,” Howard said. “I’ll be OK.”
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